Dave Grobman of the Spruce Grove Chamber of Commerce and Kevin White of the Stony Plain Chamber of Commerce preside over a April 10 vote that saw members from both groups vote to reunify. The final tally with in person and electronic voting was 86 per cent in favour of a merger. The new entity created within the next year will become the third largest chamber in Alberta.
Submitted photo

The City of Spruce Grove is being asked to contribute $25,000 towards the amalgamation of the local chambers of commerce.

Spruce Grove and District Chamber of Commerce chairperson Dave Grobman, along with vice chairperson Melissa Johnson, past chairperson Rick Kaminsky, and CEO Brenda Johnson brought a presentation to the City’s council meeting monday.

The chamber asked for $25,000 to help with the cost of their proposed merger with the Stony Plain and District Chamber of Commerce.

“This will allow us to elevate our advocacy work. We’re going to have a stronger voice for the Tri-Region. It’s going to give us a larger voice not only on the provincial side of things but on the federal side of things as well,” said Kaminsky.

Members of both chambers voted for unification on April 10, and a a request for proposal (RFP) for a business plan was awarded towards the end of April. An FP for an HR consultant was awarded in may, staff interviews were complete, and legal counsel has been retained for the purpose of drafting a memorandum of understanding, and bylaws for the new entity.

The chambers also voted on a name, the Greater Parkland Regional Chamber of Commerce. The process took another step this past week when the chamber voted for the dissolution of the Spruce Grove and Wabamun chambers on Tuesday.

Before the unification can become official, applications have to be filed with corporations Canada. In the meantime, the chamber will continue to operate by their status quo. If council approves the expense, funds will pay for a business plan, staff transition and training, the re-branding to their new name, legal counsel, and various other costs. The chamber will go to the town of Stony Plain with a similar ask.

“When we initiated the unification process there were a number of elements we didn’t fully understand at the time. We had to further examine what it was actually going to cost to unify and determined that neither chamber had the financial means to do what needed to be done,” said Kaminsky.

Unification will make the chamber the fourth largest in the province, which Kaminsky said will allow them to build a stronger voice for business in the Tri-Region. Housing all three chambers under one roof is expected to streamline events and services that are currently duplicated, and to centralized the governance model of all business in the greater region.

The new chamber will be made up of a 16 member board divided into three representatives from each the town, the city, and the county, one representative from Wabamun and six directors at large. The executive committee will consist of the chairperson, the chairperson elect, the vice chair person and a treasurer.

The CEO is the only employee of the board and will transition and hire all necessary staff. The chamber intends to cover the whole of Parkland County excluding Entwistle. According to the chamber report, the 2,388 square kilometres area is home to 3,700 licensed businesses. There is also room for that area to grow.

“One of the reasons we called ourselves what we did is we wanted to give other small chambers in neighbouring communities the chance to join up,” said Kaminsky.